It's Not Pretty But It Does The Job

I had to swap cars with my wife recently for some reason, and I noticed that the accelerator pedal in her 2004 Mazda 6 was a bit sticky at the top of its travel. There wasn't anything obviously wrong with the pedal itself so I did some research at the excellent Mazda 6 Club forums. Apparently it's possible for residue to build up around the throttle plate which can cause it to stick around the closed position. The 6 has a cable throttle so this kind of blockage would be felt at the pedal.

NB this car has the Euro/Jap 1.8 litre petrol engine. If you're in the US, you won't ever see this engine in a Mazda 6, but I believe the layout of the 2.0 is similar.

I started in the engine bay:


Off came the plastic engine cover (this just pulls off; there are clips at each corner).


The throttle body is at the bottom right corner of the engine block, where that wide hose is attached. Here's a close-up shot showing the hose connecting the throttle body on the left to the air box on the right:


I used a Philips screwdriver to loosen the hose clamps and wiggled the hose off at each end.


Removing it lets us see the throttle body itself. Here it is with the plate closed:


...and open, with me operating the mechanism:


The coiled spring just behind my finger holds the plate normally closed. You can see the throttle cable a bit further back. When you stomp on the pedal, it pulls the cable, which pulls the arm, which rotates the plate and lets more air in, which makes your car go faster. If you get an assistant to work the pedal, you can see this happening. Clever stuff!

Here's a little video showing the mechanism being manually operated:



At this point I got an old toothbrush, a clean jar and a little bit of petrol. Wetting the toothbrush in the petrol, I used it to scrub the area where the throttle plate in closed position touches the inside of the throttle body. There wasn't much noticeable residue in there, to be honest, but I gave it a good going over.

Warning: chances are there's some rust, dust, and muck in the engine bay. The hose I removed earlier feeds air to the engine AFTER filtering. If any pieces of metal or dirt get into the throttle body they will go straight into the cylinders and could potentially cause damage to the engine. Before replacing the hose, make sure the throttle body and air box outlet are both spotlessly clean, unlike in the pictures above.

Oh, and an extra warning: inside the air box you will be able to see the mass airflow sensor. This is a clever little device which is basically a fine wire that bends in the flow of the incoming air and tells the ECU how much air is entering the engine. It's a delicate little thing and will cost you a few quid to replace so don't jab your finger in there and poke it!


With the throttle body nice and clean, I put the hose back on and tightened both clamps, put the engine cover back on, then fired up the engine to test the fix. Accelerator pedal now nice and smooth all the way through its travel. Good result!

We bought William a Billy bookcase from IKEA. We put all his books on it. After a few weeks, the shelves started to bow downwards and the sides were bowing outwards. The result was that the shelves fell off and deposited the books all over his floor in the middle of the night, scaring the crap out of all of us. They don't make 'em like they used to.


I got a length of threaded rod, some washers, and some domed nuts; drilled two holes, cut the rod to length with a hacksaw, and tied the whole thing back together. A technique I've seen used on Grand Designs when renovating old barns!

And here's another one that didn't work out. I had this nifty little USB key, which got broken when I bumped into my laptop while walking past. I figured it might just be a broken trace, so opened it up and frankensteined the circuit board onto a connector I'd harvested from another faulty device.



The idea was sound (I thought), but I couldn't get it to work. The data and power lines were the right way round, there was continuity all the way to the board, no short circuits, but it wouldn't fire up. Dunno if that means I screwed up somewhere, or if the board got damaged too.

This one didn't work out quite so well. I rescued a table saw from a skip outside someone's house (don't worry, I asked). When I got it home, it turned out to be broken. I stripped it down to the motor, where I discovered that the gear attached to the shaft had sheared right off. No way to replace it, as far as I could tell, so I gave it to someone else (having explained the fault to him). I think he was going to salvage a few parts and scrap the rest.

My employer threw this aluminium trolley out because one of the swivel castors had lost its ball bearings, making it wobbly and difficult to steer.



I couldn't see a way to take the casing apart so did a bit of research and found a suitable replacement castor (100x30mm wheel, rubber on steel centre, plate fixing with 80x60mm hole centres) for sale on eBay by A&L Castors. Because I wasn't sure that the new part would be an exact match, I replaced both swivel castors.



It turns out the bolt holes are not quite in the same place as the originals, but they're close enough. Now I have a working lightweight folding trolley for the cost of £17 in parts. These things cost about £150 to buy, so it was worth fixing.

The final part of the shed project: replacing the windows.


The original plastic panes were in a sorry state. Years of UV exposure had clouded the plastic and made it very brittle. Note the cracks covered up with gaffer tape in an attempt to maintain watertightness.


The new glass. I was surprised it was so cheap. The sawmill had just taken a delivery of new glass and had a huge pile of the stuff. They don't usually sell it directly to customers but my man let me have three panes for a fiver.


First pane out. The wooden retaining strips were removed with a bit of encouragement from a pallete knife and a flat-bladed screwdriver.


First one done. The glass was exactly the right size (18"x24" seems to be a standard size for sheds) but was slightly thicker than the plastic (3mm vs 2mm, i think) so the wooden strips didn't go back on in exactly the same place. I used the original nails to re-attach the strips.

Hammering next to glass is a bit unnerving, but once you get the knack it's fine. The guy at the sawmill told me to always slide the hammer along the glass. Since it's already touching the glass it's less likely to bounce back and smash stuff.


...and compared with the other two.


Two done!


All done, and just in time: partly because it was starting to get dark and I couldn't actually see the last few nails; but also because the next day our nice spell of weather broke and it pissed it down.

There's a shelf just below the windows and now that there's some proper light going in there during the day I can start thinking about getting some crops ready for next spring. I'm going to start with some garlic and see how it goes.

I rebuilt the door on my shed. As with the side of the shed, the boards on the door were curling and starting to let the elements in; not conducive to healthy shed contents. Also as before, only basic hand tools were used.


So here's what needs to be replaced. Note the massive gaps and general poor condition.


I start by tapping the new boards together on the ground. The nice man at the sawmill cut these exactly to size. I tried to save a bit of time by painting them in the garage the night before but made the schoolboy error of not checking which side was which beforehand (tongue & groove boards are not the same profile on each side).

It's not as simple as this, though (is it ever?). I need to remove the groove from one side and cut another board lengthways to add a thin strip to the other to make this new door the same size as the old one. My neighbour generously offered to lend me his belt sander, but i scoffed at him and called him a bounder.


And by the time i'd cut down the 1780mm length of two of these buggers with a tenon saw, I'd seen the error of my ways. Too late now, let's push on.


Newly-cut narrow board added and it looks like it'll fit.


A quick lick of paint and we'll call it a night.


Fresh from work two days later, I'm checking the structure on the back of the original door. The plan is to re-use the braces and lock and scrap the rest, but before I get out the claw hammer I take a few measurements.


Ah, that's better.


Here's the gap I need to fill. And quick, before it rains.


I make some marks on the back of the new door and clamp the first brace piece in place. This picture was taken before I realised the clamps would have to be the other way up for me to be able to turn the door over and hammer the nails in. Duh. I also used a piece of string blu-tacked across the front of the door as a guide for me to follow when nailing.


Much clamping and hammering later (my son William helped me with three of the nails) and it's all done. A quick test fit revealed that the new door wasn't lining up correctly at the hinge side. The hacksaw was used to cut a few mm off the ends of the brace pieces to stop them fouling on the door frame.


There we go, it fits! Yes, it's a different colour, but I'm beyond caring at this stage. Right, what's next?


Ah yes, let's add hinges. I hadn't thought at all about how these would fit. Luckily the brace pieces were in the right places to hold the screws and only one screw on the door was blocked by a nail (indicated by blue circle). I just left this one off as there are plenty of other screws.

And now the moment of truth... will it open?


It opens! Even I was surprised at this!


A bit of drilling and filing to make a new key-hole, and the job is done. Still got the new windows to source and fit, so watch out for part 3.

I re-clad the side of my shed. The old boards were starting to curl - due to lack of maintenance on our part - and risked letting in water. My wife wanted to get a whole new shed and have someone deliver and install it (cost between £300-£600). Being a terminal cheapskate and nutter, I decided to source some new boards from a local sawmill and re-clad it myself. Total cost was £54 and about 6 hours work. Given that I only used basic hand tools (claw hammer, tenon saw, knife, sandpaper), that's not too bad. I did find myself wishing for a nailgun though.

The boards on the door are also curling and splitting. That's my next project!


This is how it looked before I got destructive with my claw hammer.


Sides off.


Naked shed! NB windows were not replaced at this time because I'd forgotten to buy them when I was at the sawmill. Next time I go there I will get some proper glass panels and fit them at a later date.


The new boards. Because I'm an idiot, I bought tongue-and-groove instead of shiplap. But they're otherwise the right dimensions and do the same job, so it's no big deal. I used the longest and shortest boards today. The mid-length boards are for the door.

The pressure-treated boards were all cut to size using a tenon saw, then sanded at the ends and given two coats of fence/shed treatment. As you'll see, the unpleasant colour I chose doesn't quite match the existing hideous colour, but it's close enough.


Adding the first few boards. The underside of the window frame has a groove in it and the long board across the middle must sit in that groove so it goes in first. Everything else goes in around it.


A closer view of the right side.


And again.


They seem to fit ok.


Left side's done now.


A wider shot. I re-used some of the nails from the old boards as well as some new annular or ring shanked nails. At each batten, each board got one old nail and one new one. In total I knocked in nearly 100 nails. And I only hit my own thumb once! Like I said, a nail gun would've been handy.


Looking nice and neat inside.


Detail of the inside. The shed was originally made by making up each panel separately and then nailing them together to form the structure. Rebuilding the side while it's attached to the frame means there's not enough space to get the tongue into the groove at the top, so I snapped off the back of the groove and just nailed the board on. No-one will notice and it won't let any rain in.


All done! The last two long boards were tricky as there wasn't enough space to tap them into the grooves of the boards above. I borrowed a crowbar and used a lump of old wood as a fulcrum to lever the boards into place.

The battery in my wife's 2004 Mazda 6 died and had to be replaced. As a result, the radio insisted that we enter the security code before it could be used again. Problem: we didn't have the code. After a few guesses (0000, 1234, etc) it locked us out. I visited the dealership and was told that they would have to hook up some dedicated equipment and call Mazda to get it re-activated, and that it would cost about £50. This sounded like bullshit to me, so I went away and spent a while searching the various Mazda forums. Eventually I found this thread over at Mazdaforum.com. In case the forum post disappears, here are the steps with a couple of additional steps from forum member Steve G6:

1) After you see ERR on the screen, turn the ignition off and back to ACC
2) Press each of these buttons one at a time: preset 6, AM, Auto M, Seek ^ (up).
3) Input this number: 4989.
4) Press and hold Auto M and Preset 6 together.
5) The word 'GOOD' will appear on the screen indicated that the radio will work.
6) Turn the ignition off and then back to ACC
7) Reprogram new antitheft code into radio as per instruction manual.

Easy when you know how!

This is a faulty MI-7 electro-mechanical timer from a Dualit 20245 toaster that my mother in law was going to throw away. The timer kept sticking, so the heating elements wouldn't turn off. If you weren't there to keep a close eye on it, your toast would be burnt to a crisp!

I had a look online and found that a replacement timer from Dualit was approx £50, whereas I could get the same part on eBay for £15. Since a new 20245 toaster costs about £120, it's definitely worth repairing!

Doing the actual replacement was fairly straightforward. Turn the unit upside down and unscrew the feet and any other screws in order to remove the bottom panel.


Make a note of which wire goes to which terminal on the back of the timer. Remove the connectors from the four terminals.


Pull off the timer knob to access the screws holding the timer onto the case. Undo the screws. Take it out.


Reassembly is the reverse of removal, but make sure you get the wires right.

It turned out that the replacement timer I bought had a slightly different design and the pins were labelled differently. I emailed Dualit customer support and they sent me PDF documents for both models of timer. Here they are:

dualit_mi-7.pdf
dualit_mi-2.pdf

I matched up the wires and got it all put back together. The other difference I found was that I needed to use machine screws instead of the original self-tappers, since the screw holes on the new timer are in metal instead of plastic.

I cleaned it up and sold it about eighteen months ago. As far as I know, it's still toasting.